


Sanctuary Lost

by thatapostateboy



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, ooc Maxson maybe but there's reason for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 17:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5751106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatapostateboy/pseuds/thatapostateboy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sole Survivor Natalie Powell and Paladin Danse in a nightmarish experience post-game. There are spoilers for Blind Betrayal and the end of the game so be warned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sanctuary Lost

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt 'stay with me'. Hit me up with prompts on tumblr, my url is thatapostateboy  
> The Brotherhood has heard one too many rumours about synths being harboured in Sanctuary and they go in with guns blazing. All Natalie can think about is keeping her family safe.

Natalie awoke late that morning. She’d been working hard the last few days, helping out on the farms with the big harvest, so she’d allowed herself a lie in for once. She let out a soft groan as she stretched and rolled over, reaching for Danse to cuddle into, but she found his side of the bed empty. She sat up and hauled herself out of bed, grabbing her jeans off of the floor as she went. She put her head around the doorway to Shaun’s room and found that empty as well.

She went into the kitchen where she found a cup of freshly brewed coffee, courtesy of Codsworth. She sipped on the bitter liquid, frowning.

Where were the boys?

It was the sound of Danse’s deep laughter outside that finally caught her attention. She went to the back door that looked out onto the small yard they had. Danse and Shaun were rolling around in the grass wrestling. Danse, the obviously bigger and stronger of the pair, was letting the boy win, chuckling as Shaun pinned him down again.

“You win, soldier,” he laughed, a little out of breath, glancing up when he noticed Natalie leaning in the doorway.

“Mom!” Shaun beamed excitedly, leaping to his feet to hug her.

She hugged him with her spare arm, careful with the coffee in her other hand, “I see you two were up early this morning.”

“We were going to make you breakfast in bed,” Danse said, getting up and rubbing the dry grass from his jeans, “But then Shaun insisted he’s stronger than me.”

“So you decided to get half the lawn all over yourselves?” she hummed with laughter, picking a bit of grass out of Shaun’s messy hair, “Well, considering I didn’t actually get my breakfast, I’ll rustle something together. I’ll see what we have.”

“Can I go play with Nat and Dogmeat before breakfast?” Shaun asked.

“Of course, sweetheart,” she smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, “Go knock for Mac and Jamie whilst you’re out there. We can have them over for food.”

“Will do, Mom,” he beamed, running for the front door, then threw a wave behind him, “Bye Dad.”

Danse looked straight at Natalie as Shaun left, “Did he just…?”

She nodded, “I think he did.”

“Nat, if you’re not comfortable with him…”

She looked up at him, “Hey. It’s okay. He knows who his father was, but Tom isn’t here anymore. You’re his dad now… Or at least only if you want to be.”

He smiled a little, “I want to be.”

She reached up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips, “You’re a good man, Danse.”

He hummed, wrapping his arms around her, kissing her back, pressing her against the doorway where she was still leaning.

“We should start making breakfast,” she murmured against his lips.

“We have time,” he smiled, claiming her lips in another kiss.

They stood there happily for a while, making out like a pair of love struck teenagers. His fingers were starting to tug on the buttons of the loose flannel shirt she wore. It was his but she wore it to bed and around the house for comfort. She also insisted that it smelled like him, even though he was sure that she wore it so much that it only smelt like her now.

Their attention was pulled from the other as they both picked up on the noise outside. They were used to shouts and even the occasional gunshot on the practice range or when a feral hound got too close to the border. But there was a commotion going on outside.

He pulled away from her, but then she heart three distinctive sounds. One, was from a vertibird. The other, was a minigun. The third was the shatter of her mug on the kitchen floor as she dropped it.

She didn’t remember the next few seconds. She had yanked her boots on and grabbed her gun, and before she knew it, she was running out into the road.

A settler ran past her, yelling about how the Brotherhood had come and were looking for hideaway synths. She looked around at Danse who had joined her, armed with his gun.

“They know you’re here,” she said, her voice quiet in disbelief, “You have to go.”

“Nat, I’m not going to leave you, I’m not the only synth here,” he pointed out.

“I will look after them, but if they find you they will shoot you dead. Get to the Vault. I’ll deal with the Brotherhood.” She went to walk away, but he didn’t look like he was going to move, “Go, Danse. That’s an order, soldier.”

He let out a sigh then disappeared into the bushes. She turned back around, cocking her gun. If the Brotherhood wanted a fight, they were going to get one. This was her home, there were her people. No one was going to threaten them.

A vertibird circled overhead, shooting threateningly, not targeting anyone. Brotherhood soldiers started to flood onto the bridge, demanding that the gate be opened. She took a few deep breaths, trying to think of the best way out of this. If they wanted a fight, they could hold them off for a while, their defences were solid, but the vertibird and their sheer numbers gave them the advantage.

She had to get the synths out of here.

She turned on her heel and ran further into Sanctuary. She saw Rose and Matt running hand in hand, going to get guns from the armoury. She called to them, telling Rose that all of the synths were heading to the Vault. She passed by a few more synths and she directed them all to Vault 111.

But that was when she ran into Piper and Nat. She stared wide eyed at Nat.

“Where’s Shaun?” she asked.

Nat frowned, “I haven’t seen him.”

“He was coming to find you,” she said, then took off running again. She had to find him. She couldn’t let the Brotherhood find him. If they found out he was a synth, and that she willingly saved him from the Institute…

There was a crash as the Brotherhood soldiers knocked down the gate. Shots were fired, and she cried out for everyone to stop, insisting that there didn’t need to be a fight, but the soldiers didn’t seem to care. The settlers opened fire upon the Brotherhood soldiers, and the vertibird’s minigun started getting more accurate in its aim. As people were cut down, soldiers and settlers alike, Natalie had to pull her eyes from the violence. She needed to find Shaun.

“Shaun!” she screamed his name, “Where are you?!”

“Nat!”

She looked around to see MacCready jogging towards her, rifle in his hands. She looked wide eyed at her friend, “Have you seen Shaun?” she asked, desperately.

He nodded, “He’s holed up in my house with Jamie and Duncan. He’s safe.”

“Thank god,” she whispered, “We have to get everyone out of here. The Brotherhood came looking for synths, but I think they’re pretty content to kill us all, burn the remains and call us all synths… Look, I’ve told Danse and some of the others to head to the Vault. I’ll draw their fire, get Jamie and the kids and get them to safety.”

“The Vault?” Mac frowned, “There are Brotherhood soldiers posted out there. I saw them through my scope before I came out to find you.”

“Oh god, Danse,” she whipped her head around to look in the direction of the Vault, “Get Jamie and the kids out through the trees. Get to Goodneighbor. I’ll meet you there.”

“What? Nat, you can’t…” Mac grabbed hold of her arm but she looked around at him.

“I have to save him,” she insisted, “I won’t lose him, not now. I trust you to keep Shaun safe. I’ll meet you in Goodneighbor.”

She took off running, shooting down Brotherhood soldiers as she went, sprinting out of Sanctuary as she headed towards the Vault. As it came into view, she saw soldiers surrounding a group of people who were all knelt with their heads bent, some crying, others trying to stay strong.

Natalie wasn’t sure how many rounds she fired off, downing soldiers. One of the kneeling people looked up and she saw Danse’s face. He shook his head, telling her not to, that it wasn’t worth it. But she didn’t care. Shaun was safe. But she couldn’t lose Danse. She had nearly lost him once. She wouldn’t do it again.

There was a hiss as someone stepped out of their power armour and she saw Maxson before her, gun pointed at Danse.

“I warned you what would happen if you sympathised with them, Sentinel Powell,” he said. He used her title even then, reminding her so fiercely that she used to be one of them; that she still was.

“Don’t you fucking touch him,” she said, “Kill me. Kill me, but let them go. They’re innocent. I’m the one who’s been hiding synths under your nose ever since I left the Brotherhood.”

“Did you think I didn’t know?” Maxson asked, “Did you think I didn’t know about any of it? Since you didn’t kill Danse, I’ve kept an especially close eye on you. I know you let the Railroad go. I know you rescued synths and hid them amongst the settlements you helped the Minutemen claim. I know that you let a synth disguised as your own son walk out of the Institute so that you could raise it in some fake domestic life with Danse. No more, Sentinel. This ends now.”

She raised her own gun, but it was too late. Maxson fired his shot and Danse was down. The scream that left her body sounded inhuman. She ran to him, but he was already on the ground, the bullet through his head.

She scooped his torso up into her arms, holding him, sobbing, hoping that it wasn’t true. She couldn’t lose anyone else. She had lost Tom. She couldn’t lose him as well.

“This is all your fault, Sentinel,” Maxson said simply. More shots were fired off and all of the other synths soon lolled over, dead on the ground.

“You bastard,” Natalie sobbed, “They were innocent people!”

“They were not people. They were machines,” Maxson reminded her, reloading his gun cockily slow. He gave a nod to two of the other soldiers and they grabbed hold of her, hauling her to her feet, pulling her away from Danse, “You’re going to be brought back to the Prydwen for a formal trial and execution.”

“I’ll kill you for this,” she said, struggling against her former brothers, “If it’s the last thing I do, I will fucking kill you for this, Arthur Maxson.”

“Mom?”

That voice. That tiny, curious voice, was enough for her blood to run cold. She turned and saw Shaun stood there, obviously having come run in search of his mother. His eyes landed on Danse’s dead form and tears filled the boy’s eyes.

“Dad?” he whimpered.

Maxson glanced at her, “Touching. It acts like it has real parents. Guess they’ll be the last thing it sees.”

He raised his gun again, aiming it at Shaun. Natalie didn’t know where she found the strength then, but she pulled herself out of the grip of the soldiers. She stumbled across the entrance to the Vault, throwing herself in front of her son.

“Mom?” he looked up at her, his young eyes filled with fear. She held his hand tight in hers.

“It’s okay, baby, I’m here,” she told him softly, “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Just stay behind me, okay? If you hear a gunshot, I want to run. Promise me, baby.”

He nodded, “I promise, Mom.”

She turned back to Maxson, but her eyes were on Danse. God, she had failed him. She had failed everyone. She couldn’t keep them safe, and she was a fool to think she could. A tear slipped down her cheek. She heard Maxson cock his gun.

“I love you, Shaun,” she said, “Get ready to run.”

“Mom, I…”

The gun fired, everything went black and the last thing she was aware of was Shaun’s hand slipping from hers…

~

It was with a scream that she awoke. She was drenched with sweat, shaking and looking around wildly. The room was dark and she couldn’t see a thing. She flinched as a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her. She fought them off, trying to scramble out of bed. But the arms held strong.

“Nat,” a deep voice said, “It’s me. It’s okay. You’re safe.”

Tears ran down her cheeks and she still fought, “Get off of me!”

“Calm down,” they insisted, taking her face in their hands, “Look at me. Focus on my voice. Stay with me, Nat. Breathe.”

She slowed her breathing a little and her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She made out Danse’s face and suddenly the fight went out of her. She went limp and collapsed against him, pressing her face into his chest, sobbing. He shushed her softly, running his hand down her back, calming her.

“I’m here, it’s okay,” he said, “You’re safe. I’m safe. Shaun’s safe.”

He kept repeating those words over and over until she calmed completely, her sobs subsided, her breathing slowed back down. Eventually, she looked up at him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Hey,” he said, cupping her cheek with his hand, “You have nothing to apologise for.”

“It… It was the same nightmare again. The Brotherhood came… They killed you, and everyone else. They were going to kill Shaun…” tears started to roll down her cheeks again, but he wiped them away.

“That’s not going to happen,” he insisted, “Nothing’s going to threaten our family.”

She rested her forehead against his. He was here. He was alive. He was real. He was right here at her side where he belonged.

She had to remind herself of those things sometimes, just as much as he did.

They cuddled back together, Natalie spooned tightly into his embrace, his arms around her. She soon heard his breathing turn heavy as he fell asleep, his breath warm on the back of her neck. But she couldn’t sleep, as much as she wanted to.

She slipped out of his arms and headed silently into the next room. She peered around the door into Shaun’s room and saw the boy sleeping peacefully, Dogmeat curled up on the end of his bed. She stepped into the room, kneeling by his bedside. Her night terrors used to wake him but now he slept through them, thank god.

She pressed a kiss to his cheek, running a hand over his hair, “I love you, baby,” she whispered.

He stirred a little at her touch, but didn’t wake. She tucked blanket a little tighter around him then stood. She scratched Dogmeat behind the ears softly then headed back into her room.

She clambered back into bed, Danse’s arms wrapping back around her as though she hadn’t been gone. Her family was safe. They were real, and they were alive. Her boys. The most important people in her life.

She wasn’t going to let anything happen to them. Not now, not ever.

**Author's Note:**

> This got long and there was much angst. This is my first fallout piece. I know I might have written people a bit ooc, one because it's my first piece, and two, the setting takes place in Natalie's nightmare. But let me know how I did, I'm open to criticism.


End file.
